Bella's Bad Luck Makes For A Precious Moment
by MadderThanTheCheshire
Summary: Bella's bad luck turns into a precious father/daughter moment between Carlisle and herself. One-shot.


**This little story came to be a few months ago, and I just found it again. I only had a paragraph written, and after reading it, I thought I'd see where I could go with it and if it would be anything. This is what I got. It's 3AM and I'm bored. I'm procrastinating as well. College essays are boring. Fan-fiction not so much!**

**R&R! (Also, this is not beta-ed. I just wanted to crank this out!)**

Bella had been driving for over a half hour, heading home from Seattle. She had gone with Angela to a party her cousin was throwing for her college graduation and Angela had begged Bella to go with her; she hadn't felt comfortable going there alone and being the youngest there, so Bella had agreed. After the party had ended, Bella had found herself coughing and had decided she was coming down with a cold. She had called Carlisle about it, not sure if she could take cough medicine with the pain pills she had taken earlier for her headache. When he had given the okay, she had taken some Dayquil.

A half hour into the drive home, Bella was pulled over for speeding. The cop, not believing she hadn't been drinking, gave her a breathalyzer test. Given Bella's bad luck and the fact that Dayquil has alcohol in it, she blew a positive.

So there she sat, in a cell in a Seattle jail, waiting for someone to bail her out. She had been given one call and she had chosen Angela; thinking that she would pick up her phone and bail her out before they called her father. Lord knew Charlie would be very angry if his only daughter was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

Angela hadn't answered; her cell went straight to voicemail indicating that her phone was off. The officer that had fingerprinted her had allowed her to make one more so she could get a hold of someone. Knowing that Alice had probably seen her being arrested and trying to get a hold of her, she didn't bother to call her – though she did make the decision so her pixie like sister would know where she was at. Instead, she had called Edward, praying he wouldn't be too distracted hunting to not hear his phone. Unfortunately, he hadn't answered and the officer said they were now forced to call her father; Bella dreaded the look she would get once Charlie showed up.

After two hours of sitting there in that small, cramped and cold holding cell, an officer came back to let her know her father had arrived to bail her out. She remained sitting there, waiting to see Charlie standing on the other side of the bars; disappointment shinning in his brown eyes. Who she saw instead, was ten times worse than Charlie Swan.

Carlisle Cullen – her future father-in-law and father in many ways already – stood before her instead; disappointment, shame, and sadness shone brightly in his topaz eyes. Bella ducked her head down, unable to look him in the eyes any longer.

"You're dads' here miss," the officer said unlocking the cell. Neither Bella nor Carlisle bothered to correct him. She got up and slowly walked over to Carlisle, all the while avoiding his gaze. Bella hated to disappoint people, but most of all; she hated disappointing Esme and Carlisle more. They were more like her parents than her own parents were and the mere thought of disappointing them made her feel sick. Carlisle wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side but didn't say anything to her.

He paid for her bail, signed the necessary paper work, and led her out to his Mercedes; all the while without saying a word to her. To say the drive home was awkward would be an understatement. Carlisle wasn't saying a word to her still and he had even kept himself from glancing in her direction. Bella took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

"Carlisle?" she asked hesitantly. Her only reply was a soft hum.

"Carlisle please; yell, scream, give me a lecture," Bella begged. "Just do something! I can't stand your silence!"

Carlisle sighed deeply before pulling over on the side of the deserted stretch of highway. He turned the car off, and then turned to face his nervous human daughter.

"Bella, I'm not going to yell, scream or give you a lecture," he sighed. Bella's tensed, hunched shoulders relaxed a bit at his reassurance, but quickly tightened up again at the thought of him telling her he was going to have Charlie do it instead.

"I don't know what to say Bella," he began. "I know you weren't drinking, and for that I am so very thankful. You're a smart girl and you know better than to do that." She nodded. Of course she was smart than that. Charlie and Edward would both kill her if she even tried to drink.

"Then why are you so angry?" she questioned.

"Oh honey I'm not angry at you," Carlisle rushed to reassure her. "I'm angry, disappointed, and ashamed at myself!"

Bella blinked a few times and repeated everything Carlisle had just said to her several times in her head before she could answer him. He's angry at himself? For what?

"Uh Carlisle, I don't think I understand," she said.

"Sweetheart, I'm a doctor," he said by way of explanation. "I should have known taking Dayquil would have had you test positive for alcohol if you were to ever be pulled over; yet I didn't think about it."

"Carlisle, I'm the one that was speeding and I'm the one that took the medicine!"

"I know, and just so you know, I don't condone your speeding," he said giving her a stern look only a parent can give. "But, if I hadn't allowed you to take the Dayquil then you wouldn't have been arrested on a DUI charge."

Bella nodded, "Yeah, I understand. But Carlisle, I really am sorry for speeding. I was just so eager to get home and in bed that I just didn't think."

Carlisle leaned over the little arm-rest between them and pulled her into a hug. "I understand. You aren't exactly feeling well and I can see how the thought of your bed would have you eager to get to it."

"Exactly, but still; it's no excuse for me to speed," Bella said ashamed at her actions.

"It's alright dear, just try to obey the speed limits from now on," Carlisle smiled. "Well, at least until you're a vampire. That way if you do get into a crash, you won't be hurt. Of course, vampires have amazing reflexes so you won't really have to worry about that now will you?"

"Knowing my luck, I will," Bella laughed.

Carlisle frowned. Knowing his daughter, yes, she would have to worry about that. "You're right. Knowing your luck, we'll probably have to have you drive like your mother." He hadn't meant to refer to Esme has her mother; it was more out of habit more than anything. He referred to Esme as his children's mother all the time and to him, Bella was his child so that is why he thought of Esme has her mother.

"Esme isn't that bad!" Bella snorted. "She goes at least twenty miles over the speed limit."

"True, but it's still slower than the rest of us," he laughed.

"Well I guess mom and I are just cautious!" Bella retorted playfully sticking her tongue out at him. Carlisle's smiled grew at hearing her call Esme 'mom'.

"What?" Bella questioned catching the smile on his face.

"Nothing, it's just that you called Esme 'mom'," he replied. "You have no idea how happy that would make her feel if she heard you say that."

"Well, you and Esme are more like my parents than my actual parents are. To them, I'm the adult and they are the kids. It's nice to finally be treated like the child for once and not the adult," Bella shrugged sheepishly. Carlisle kissed her forehead and pulled her tighter to his chest.

"You're our daughter Bella. Maybe not biologically, but you are our daughter in every other way and we love you," he whispered into her hair.

"Carlisle?" Bella asked sleepily after they had pulled up to the Cullen's home where Bella was staying, thanks to Alice 'dazzling' Charlie into letting Bella have a 'sleep over' with her.

"Yes sweetheart?"

"Can I call you Dad?" She was struggling with herself to stay awake.

Carlisle's dead heart gave a leap in his chest. Though his other 'children' called him 'Dad' in public, they never called him that at home or at any other time. They were all about a century old and they didn't really need parenting. But Bella; Bella needed adult figures in her life. He knew that Bella had to take the mother role growing up and take care of Renee.

"I would love that very much baby girl," Carlisle said his voice choking up at the love he felt for his human daughter. Bella nodded and finally let sleep claim her. Carlisle parked the car in the garage and took Bella inside up to her and Edward's room where he placed her on the bed.

An hour later, he was running to her bedroom when he heard her groaning in pain. Upon entering the room, he was greeted with the sight of Bella sitting up in bed, holding her stomach. He rushed to her side and placed his hand on her forehead. Just what he thought; she had a high fever.

"Bella, sweetheart do you need to puke?" he asked tenderly. She nodded and he quickly picked her up and rushed her to the on-suit bathroom. As soon as he had placed her in front of the toilet, she was throwing up everything her stomach held in it.

Carlisle rushed back to his office, grabbed is black bag, and went back to Bella. He gave her a few pills that would fight the fever and help her stomach feel better. When Bella had thoroughly emptied her stomach, he took her downstairs and sat her in his lap on the couch. Bella had refused to have a blanket on her because of her high fever and clammy skin; all she wanted to do was snuggle up to something cold and Carlisle was just perfect.

There, in her daddy's arms, Bella fell back to sleep without any fits. She stayed there until the rest of the Cullen's came home. As they walked in through the front door, they were greeted by the sight of Carlisle sitting on the sofa with Bella cradled in his stone arms. He gave them all a smile in greeting; not daring to move and greet them. Esme flitted to his side and stroked Bella's hair in a loving way only a mother could.

"What happened?" Edward asked worriedly. Carlisle, knowing what his son wanted, showed him the car ride home. For his other children and his wife, he spoke aloud.

"Bella was pulled over for speeding and was given a breathalyzer test which she tested positive for because of the Dayquil I had told her she could take for her cold. I had forgotten that if she were to be pulled over and given a breathalyzer test, she would test positive," he explained.

"When we got home, Bella had fallen asleep and I carried her to her room. A little while later I was back in her room after hearing her groans of pain and discomfort. She has the flu," Esme gasped and went to the kitchen, checking to see if she had everything she would need to make homemade chicken soup for Bella when she woke up in the morning. Edward made his way to sit next to his father, but made no move to take his fiancé from his arms.

"Thank you," Edward said to him.

"For what son?" Carlisle asked perplexed. He was honored to take care of Bella; there was no need to be thanked for it.

"No, I know you feel honored to take care of her," Edward said. "What I meant was thank you for treating her like she was your own. She may not have known it, but she needed strong parental figures around her; someone to raise her instead of her raising them."

"Son, it is her that we should be thanking. Esme and I may have you five for children, but you all are over a century old; you don't really need us. But Bella does, and for that, we will forever be grateful," Carlisle swore.

Edward placed a kiss on Bella's forehead then went up to their room, content to let his father have the father-daughter bonding time he knew he secretly craved. The others kissed Bella's head then made their way to their rooms with their mates; each of them thinking how lucky they were to have two people that were willing to treat them as the children they wish they were to them.

**Well, I hope you guys liked this! Sorry it wasn't edited. I did what I could at 3:40 AM! Remember, reviews make me happy!!**


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